Employment Agreements: The Devil’s in the Details

Congratulations! You finished dental school and received an offer to join a practice. That’s terrific news. Or maybe you’re in the position of offering employment to another dentist. Either way, before you put your John Hancock on any contract you’ll want to do your best to understand the provisions and key legal terms. While dental school taught you the art and science of patient care, maybe you didn’t graduate with a good understanding of the ramifications of much of the language used in many dentist employment agreements. Fortunately the ADA is here to help.

A new publication “Dentist Employment Agreements: A Guide to Key Legal Provisions” explains many of the terms and provisions common to dental employment agreements. The material is presented in a manner to help you consider and review a contract of employment. It’s not a substitute for a lawyer, but can help you know what questions to ask and discussions to have with your legal advisor. Some of the topics covered include:

The differences between employees and independent contractors

Explanations of salary, commission, bonuses and benefits

What a non-compete clause is and how it differs from non-solicitation

How mediation and/or arbitration can resolve disputes

Points to consider when hiring a lawyer to review the employment agreement

The ADA designed these materials to assist our member dentists. We do not, in making these materials available to you, intend to give you legal or professional advice or opinions. To get appropriate legal or professional advice, you need to consult directly with a properly qualified attorney admitted to practice in your jurisdiction. To the extent ADA has included links to any third party web site(s), we intend no endorsement of their content and imply no affiliation with the organizations that provide their content. Further we make no representations or warranties about the information provided on those sites, which we do not control in any way.